Thursday, October 20, 2011

Weekend Preview 22-23 October

The league schedule is once again lacking its full compliment of fixtures. I can understand the postponements because of the flooding, but is it really necessary to cancel matches for the SEA games which begin next month? There is already a fixture backlog to contend with for most clubs.Only 3 Bangkok teams are in action this weekend. TOT have the difficult task of stopping the Buriram PEA juggernaut. They'll need to significantly improve on last night's 4-1 humping by 1st division Songkla if they are going to take anything from this one.It's now over 480 minutes since Thai Port last scored a goal. Their last goal came against 2nd division Pattalung in the Toyota League Cup. Navy had a terrible start to the season, but they've improved in the last few weeks. A victory for Navy would move them to within 4 points of the Port Lions. Thai Port coach, Thongchai Sukkokee, may hedge his bets once again and set his stall out for another 0-0 draw.According to various Thai football sites, Bangkok Glass will use the Thephasadin Stadium for their home game against Samut Songkhram this Saturday.

Zico stated earlier this week that his stuttering BBCU side will still win promotion. The Pink Power have recently suffered lackluster 0-0 draws at home to lowly RBAC and Thai Honda. Chiang Mai are another side firmly in the relegation battle and the northern side might be quietly confident of getting something out of this game. BBCU will be keeping an eye on the game at RBAC as closest contenders to their third spot, Songkla, visit the capital for the second time in three days. Songkla are currently 11 points behind BBCU albeit with 3 games in hand.Elsewhere on Saturday, JW Rangsit travel down the coast to meet PTT Rayong.On Sunday, I'd be surprised if all three game at Suphanburi, Air Force and Customs are played. All three stadiums are in the flood zone so expect postponements.

Kasetsart have generally fared better away from home this season. The away game at Loei will be seen as a 3 pointer. After last weeks defeat to Pattalung, the Nagas need to get points on the board. Another defeat could leave Kasetsart with a mountain to climb. The big clash this weekend is between pregroup favourites Ratchaburi and Phitsanoluk. In the other game, Pattalung will fancy their chances of taking 3 points at home to Phichit.

North Bangkok would have been satisfied with their opening day point up at Lamphun last week. A similar outcome at Korat would be another pleasing return for the Horsemen. Roi Et make the long journey down to Krabi. It is still unclear whether or not they were penalised for having 6 foreigners on the field against Korat last time out. One things for sure, they won't make the same mistake again. Lamphun and Rayong both drew their first games. It wouldn't surprise me if this is another stalemate.

2 comments:

There's even more confusion than usual regarding this weekend's TPL fixtures. Channel 3 News reported that the Osotspa match was off, the Bkk Glass match was off and the TOT match would be declared either on or off twenty four hours beforehand.

Also some places are reporting that Thai Port v Navy has also been postponed.

I expect there will be more postponements and rearrangements today. You can't attach any blame to the football authorities for games being cancelled due to the floods. In saying that, they've made a total balls up of the rest of the schedule. It's been farcical!!